Release Essendon drug findings: AFL chief

Australian Rules Football chief Andrew Demetriou has called on the sports anti-doping body to release a report on drug use at the Essendon football club.

Speaking to Fairfax radio on Saturday, Mr Demetriou said allegations surrounding the club's use of the drug AOD-9604 would be cleared up if the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) made public their findings.

"I think it's absolutely essential that we get the report and make it public," he said.

"People want to know - the players want to know, the fans want to know."

ASADA has been investigating Essendon's supplement program, after it was found that players were using the drug AOD-9604 in amounts and frequencies greater than its clinical trials.

The club sacked program instigator Stephen Danks in November over the affair.

Earlier on Saturday, Fairfax Media alleged that Essendon players could have been used in a trial of AOD-9604 without their knowledge.

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Reports said a patent application document, made in December 2012 by Melbourne company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals, had described trials with "professional footballers" as proof of the drug's attributes.

While the players' team was not named in the document, Fairfax said that ASADA believed it to be Essendon.

Club representatives have said its players knew nothing about such trials, suggesting that both criminal and civil charges could be made against the parties involved.

On Friday, Acting Essendon chief executive Ray Gunston said the club was "extremely concerned about this allegation", Fairfax reported.

"We will be sending this documentation on to both the AFL and ASADA and will be seeking their advice," he said.

"It would be very concerning to the club if any of our players, or information about our players, were used in this way."

Mr Demetriou told 3AW listeners that he too had known nothing about the case.

"I read about it in the paper for the first time this morning," he said.